Small plane crashes into mobile home park in Florida, kills pilot and one resident

A “mass casualty event” occurred in Clearwater, Florida on Thursday evening, when a small plane crashed into a mobile home park, killing the pilot and possibly a resident, and setting four trailers on fire.

Residents at the Bayside Waters watch EMS personnel respond after a small plane crashed into the mobile home park in Clearwater, Florida, on February 1, 2024. There are “several fatalities both from the aircraft and within the mobile home,� Fire Chief Scott Ehlers said. (Photo by OCTAVIO JONES / AFP)(AFP)

The plane was a Beechcraft 35 Bonanza, a single-engine aircraft that took off from Vero Beach Regional Airport at 6:08 p.m. local time, according to FlightAware data.

Catch the complete coverage of Budget 2024 only on HT. Explore now!

It was heading to Clearwater, a city near Tampa and St. Petersburg, where it was supposed to land at the Clearwater Airpark. However, the pilot, a 62-year-old man, reported an engine failure to the air traffic control and declared a “mayday, mayday, mayday,” as the fire chief Scott Ehlers said at a press conference. The plane then veered and crashed into the Bayside Waters mobile home park, also known as Japanese Garden, around 7:15 p.m.

ALSO READ| United Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Denver due to a cracked windshield

The crash was captured on video by some witnesses who shared it on X, a social media platform. The footage showed a thick cloud of white smoke rising from the wreckage and the flames engulfing the trailers.

The impact was so violent that the plane smashed into one trailer and ignited three others, creating a huge blaze that could be seen from miles away.

One witness, Laketa Collins, who was filling up her car at a nearby Costco, said that she saw the plane falling from the sky like a “shooting star.” She said that it looked like “a solid white ball, just coming down, it didn’t dim or nothing.”

The authorities responded quickly

The Clearwater Police Department and the Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department arrived at the scene shortly after the crash, along with other emergency crews. They found the pilot dead inside the plane and suspected that a resident of the first trailer also perished in the fire. Ehlers said that identifying the victims would be a “tedious task” because of the severe damage to the bodies and the plane.

The fire was quickly contained and extinguished, and no other injuries or fatalities were reported among the residents of the mobile home park. However, some of them were upset by the presence of the police officers and asked them to leave the area.

ALSO READ| Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce inspire American Airlines’ Super Bowl flight numbers from Kansas City to LA

The police chief Eric Gandy said that his officers were there to secure the perimeter and assist the investigation. The Bayside Waters community is located near U.S. Highway 19, a busy road that was partially closed due to the incident.

FAA is conducting an detailed investigation

The cause of the crash is still unknown, and it is unclear how many passengers were on board the plane besides the pilot. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will conduct a joint investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of the accident. The NTSB will be the lead agency and will provide any updates on its website.